Someone Who Will Listen
by Cheeseburger of Doom
Summary: Kaido's brother is in the hospital after a stupid accident; he doesn't know who he can turn to for support, since there doesn't seem to be anyone who might listen.


A/N: Possibly AU. I'm messing with timelines here, for my own convenience. I don't know when or if ever Yukimura will get out of the hospital. I don't know if these guys would end up in the same hospital. I don't know why I keep thinking of Yukimura as a female when it is quite obvious that he is male. I also don't know why Sanada in a dress amuses me so much, but it does. Um, and the last part has nothing to do with this story really, so please read on.

This is for Samson (my dear sister) on the occasion of her sixteenth birthday. Her birthday fic had to be about her OTP, right? )

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Someone Who Will Listen

Kaido did not like hospitals. He was fairly certain that there were not many people who did. He also knew that he would probably hate being in the hospital, but he did not know if that would be as frustrating as visiting someone else there. Which was the most difficult position, victim of circumstance or the loved ones of victims of circumstance?

Kaido loved his family very much, and they loved him, and everything was rosy; well, except for the occasional argument over who forgot to take out the trash, and the guilt trips about why he and his brother never did any housework, but they really did get along very well. Kaido considered himself very close to his brother, and they did not seem to harbor the hatred for each other that most siblings their age did.

The downside to all of this happiness was that when one member of the family got sick or hurt, the rest was torn apart. Kaido did not want to be in the hospital visiting Hazue because he did not want to believe that Hazue needed to be there.

Why was Hazue in the hospital? Actually, a better question would be, why did people drive drunk, even though they knew what would happen? Why would anyone take the risk, knowing that they might end up hurting a young boy with a family who loved him?

There was no good answer to that question, though. No answer that would satisfy Kaido Kaoru, who was currently steaming with anger that he had no outlet for. The man who had put his brother in a coma was dead, so it would be useless to hate him; manners dictated to have respect for the dead, after all.

Manners be damned. The man was a bastard and Kaido hoped he was rotting in Hell right now.

Kaido calmed himself down a little, and made his way to his brother's room. He had to visit at a different time than his parents, because he hated watching his mother cry and his father try not to cry. He preferred to go when it was quiet, and he could sit and talk to his comatose brother by himself, and not worry about how stupid he sounded. Hazue would tease him about it if -- no, when -- he woke up, but that was okay, because at least he would be awake.

Kaido always spent at least a couple of hours there. His parents respected his need to be alone, and they always came to pick him up when he called. Sometimes they would all go out for dinner; his parents tried to put on a happy face, and be strong, but it was hard. Everything was hard these days; schoolwork, tennis, life.

People were starting to notice that something was wrong, and it bothered him. He didn't want them asking questions because he didn't want to have to answer. Would they even understand? How could he explain something like this to, say, Momoshiro, who he usually fought with and insulted? Could they even have a serious conversation? How could he explain his heartache to Inui-sempai, who he had the strangest relationship with -- it would be too awkward. It was too hard to share his feelings with anyone.

No one really expected him to share his feelings, anyway; they expected him to glare at them and hiss and then continue to ignore them. They expected him to look angry and anti-social, and they expected him not to care about anything, apparently. Most of the time it didn't matter what anyone thought, but it would have been nice just this once to have someone to talk to.

It was a shame that he didn't have any real friends; and a shame that he hadn't thought that he really needed them. He was content enough as he was; and he had friends, just not close ones that he talked to, really. Besides his brother.

And now his brother was in a coma, and the only one he would have been able to talk to about it was his brother --

Yes, Kaido was feeling a little lonely. He could have talked to his parents, but they were having enough troubles of their own as it was. They could lean on each other, certainly, but he had to be strong for them, because they trusted him and they relied on him to be a little independent right now. He could do that for them, even if it meant feeling a little lonely, for a while.

He just hoped his brother woke up soon.

"I'm back," he said, taking his usual seat by the bed. He hated looking at his brother hooked up to so many tubes, with all those weird wires sticking out of him. It made him look like something less than human; like a blob on a bed, waiting to die.

He tried not to have those kinds of thoughts, since they were bad luck, but it was hard to stay positive sometimes. It was hard not to have those thoughts when he was left to himself all day every day, with nothing to do but think about it.

Kaido spent two hours that night talking to his comatose brother about anything he could think of. He was not the talkative type, but the doctors said that hearing his family members' and friends' voices would help him to recover. Hazue had more friends than Kaido, even though their personalities were similar; Hazue was much smarter about things like that than he was, and Kaido knew it.

When he finally consulted the clock, he saw that it was getting late. Visiting hours were almost over, and it was time for him to go home.

He was startled when he heard thunder booming outside; he hadn't even noticed that it had begun to storm. Kaido really hated storms; they scared him, even though he would never admit it. He had a feeling that it was obvious, anyway. He jumped again when he saw lightning flash.

He went out into the hall, and pulled out his cell phone. He wanted to get home as soon as possible now; he did not want to be trapped in the hospital during a storm. It seemed like just the place for angry spirits to want to roam. He was starting to shiver just thinking about it.

"I want to come home now," he said, when his mother picked up at the other end. "I'm done visiting."

"Oh, Kaoru! You'll never believe what's happened!"

Kaido did not like the sound of his mother's voice when she said that. She sounded far too upset -- what else could have gone wrong? Their luck was so poor lately. He braced himself for terrible news.

"The car won't start."

What? Well, that wasn't as terrible as he'd thought -- wait, but that meant…That he was stuck in the hospital during the storm. Kaido didn't like the sound of that at all. Kaido didn't even have any money on him for a cab or the bus; nor did he have anyone else that he could call for a ride. He did not want to impose.

Though it looked like he might have to, for the sake of his sanity. He debated on whether to bother Inui-sempai or Momoshiro; he didn't know which set of parents would be more willing to help him out. Maybe he should call Oishi-sempai; if his parents were anything like him, then they wouldn't want to leave his poor self stranded --

And while he was in the middle of the debating process, he ran into someone he knew, but didn't know; someone he had met briefly, and watched, but never spoken to.

"Sorry," Sanada Genichirou mumbled, and he was about to go on his way. Kaido wanted to stop him; why, he had no idea. There was no reason for him to stop him, no reason for him to even speak to him; other than the fact that they were both in the hospital, and Kaido was curious as to why. He thought he remembered something about the buchou of Rikkai being in the hospital for some kind of surgery -- is that why Sanada was here, visiting?

It was none of his business, but Kaido was curious anyway. Still, he didn't bother to try and stop the other boy, because that would have been rude -- but Sanada stopped of his own accord.

"Do I know you?" he said.

"I'm from Seigaku," Kaido said. "I played doubles with Momoshiro. Against Marui and Jackal."

Sanada nodded. "Yes."

That prompted a rather awkward moment of silence in which neither knew what to say or do; Kaido waited for Sanada to keep going, but he seemed to want to say something else. Maybe he was curious about why Kaido was there.

"My brother is in a coma," Kaido said. He wasn't sure why he was telling Sanada; maybe it was because Sanada was pretty much a stranger, and he needed to tell someone. It would have been better to talk to someone who would listen to him, and tell him that everything would be all right; then again, that might have been a lie, so why not just tell Sanada? If Sanada was visiting his sick buchou, he might understand where Kaido was coming from, anyway.

Sanada didn't say anything to that, though. He did not seem the type to ask "What happened?" nor did he seem the type to say "I'm sorry". Still, Kaido felt somewhat better; there was someone else out there who knew what he was going through, and probably even felt some sympathy, even though he didn't show it.

"Visiting hours are over."

Kaido jumped at the nurse's voice. He hadn't see her appear.

"I was just on my way out," Sanada said.

"My parents' car broke down, and I'm just trying to get a hold of someone who can take me home." Kaido always spilled things like that to nurses; he found that they had kind eyes, and they always listened to pathetic sob stories.

It was just good luck that this time, Sanada was there, and he also heard.

"You can come with me," he said, even though Kaido did not think he seemed the type to make that kind of offer. Maybe he was like Kaido; tough on the outside, and unable to resist helpless kittens on the inside. The thought was kind of funny, actually, when coupled with a mental image of Sanada playing with a kitten.

"Isn't that out of your way?" Kaido asked.

"You can stay at my place tonight. My parents won't mind."

That would be better than staying at the hospital in a dark corner, at any rate. "If it's not too much trouble," he said. He did not want to be a burden on anyone, and he had to be polite -- he'd been raised right, after all.

"It's fine," Sanada said, and then he started walking -- apparently Kaido was to follow.

Sanada was not usually one for picking up lost puppies, but for some reason, he hadn't been able to resist offering to take Kaido home. He didn't even know the guy, but for some reason, he had felt a kinship with him; probably because of what he'd said about his brother. He didn't want to have to leave Kaido alone in the hospital in the middle of a storm; it wasn't right.

So, he'd done his good duty for the day, and brought Kaido home. Now things were a little strange, as Kaido was not the talkative type, and neither was he. They had nothing to say to each other; no idea of how to act around one another. This was going to be a long night.

Finally, Sanada decided that they could just watch some kind of movie, and there would be no need for either of them to talk. He pulled out the first movie he came to, which happened to be a comedy; about halfway through he realized that was a big mistake, since neither of them seemed to be the laughing type, either. He found the movie funny, but he wasn't about to roll on the ground with laughter; Kaido was barely moving, so he had no idea how the other boy felt about it.

Yes, this was going to be a long night.

"My brother was hit by a drunk driver," Kaido said, suddenly. "The guy hit him, then swerved off the road into a ditch, where he died."

What could Sanada say to that? Not much, really. "I'm sorry" probably wouldn't help him, anyway.

"He's in a coma now. Does it bother you to hear this?"

"Not really," Sanada said. Kaido had obviously been holding this in for quite some time, and he must have been desperate, if he was going to share it with a complete stranger. Sanada was a strong believer in suppressing his feelings, but he knew how it felt when they got to be too much to handle; that was usually when he went to Yanagi. Yanagi would extract from him what was really bothering him, usually against his will, and Sanada would leave feeling somewhat better, until the next time.

Obviously Kaido didn't have someone like that.

Kaido seemed to be done talking. Sanada wondered if he felt better, or if he felt worse; Sanada was not exactly the best person to talk to. He never had much to say about anything, and he wasn't very good at dealing with his own feelings, never mind other people's.

He understood Kaido's problem, though; having someone he cared about in the hospital. Yukimura had been there for quite some time, now. He would be getting out soon, since the surgery had gone well, but it was still painful to see him sitting there doing nothing, when he should be outside playing tennis -- or something.

The movie finally ended (and ended lamely, at that) and Sanada didn't bother to put another in. His mother called them down for dinner. Kaido was a polite boy, and his parents loved him; he was the only one of Sanada's friends they'd met besides Yanagi and Yukimura. Which was probably a good thing, considering the table manners of some of them (namely Marui). Jackal would be okay to bring home, but he wasn't particularly friendly with him, so that would have been strange. Then again, he was currently eating dinner with someone he'd only met in passing, simply because he belonged to a rival team. It would have made more sense to invite Echizen to dinner -- even if he didn't really like the little brat. At least he knew him somewhat.

After dinner, they went upstairs, and Sanada ran into a problem. They did not have an extra futon, and he was not about to tell Kaido to sleep on the floor. That would have been rude.

"You can have the bed," he said. "I'll get some blankets and sleep on the floor."

"No, the floor is fine for me," Kaido said. "I don't want to put you out of your bed."

"It's fine."

"No, it isn't."

Sanada could see that they were not going to get anywhere if they continued like this. Was there a solution that would satisfy courtesy and also satisfy Kaido's seeming need for extreme politeness?

"We can just share," Sanada said, satisfied with his conclusion. Kaido opened his mouth to argue, but Sanada fixed him with a very stern glare, and the argument was concluded before it had even begun.

Kaido found it hard to sleep while in the same bed as someone else. He'd never had to share before, and it was awkward. He couldn't figure out if the fact that it was Sanada he was sharing with made the whole experience more uncomfortable or more bearable. Sanada didn't say much, and he had an anti-social exterior, and to some he would appear cold-hearted and somewhat of a statue -- but he had rescued Kaido and proved that he was also a very nice kind of guy. He'd done his best to keep Kaido entertained, even though they were both clueless about what to say to one another; he'd listened while Kaido "poured out his heart" (as much as Kaido ever would, anyway).

Sanada also had a very cute sleeping face, but that was something that disturbed Kaido more than reassured him. He was also a little unnerved about how nice it felt to be at Sanada's side, and how content he'd been feeling, until he'd actually started to think about it.

"Are you still awake?"

Kaido almost jumped out of the bed when he heard Sanada's voice so suddenly.

"Yes."

"Hn."

"Not used to sleeping away from home," Kaido explained. "It's not the bed, or anything." It definitely wasn't the company. He liked the company very much, actually. He and Sanada had many things in common, it seemed.

"Your brother will be fine," Sanada said. It was the first words of encouragement he'd offered all evening, and from the sounds of it, possibly in his entire lifetime. He also sounded like he was more than half asleep.

"I hope so," Kaido said.

"Go to sleep," Sanada mumbled. To Kaido's surprise, he felt an arm suddenly snake around him; and while unexpected, it was very nice, and he decided not to argue. Sanada was half asleep, after all. It wasn't his fault.

"Good night," Kaido said, and he finally drifted off.

Sanada woke with his arms full of Kaido. His first instinct was to jump up and run away screaming, but that would have conflicted with his macho exterior. Instead, he detached himself, and tried not to wake Kaido. He was not so lucky, however, and sleepy eyes blinked up at him.

"How did you sleep?" Sanada asked, trying to ignore their embarrassing position.

"Fine," Kaido replied, apparently also trying to ignore their embarrassing position.

They went down to breakfast, and then Sanada's mother offered to drive Kaido home. He thanked her, but said that his mother would be along shortly; she'd insisted on picking him up first thing in the morning when he'd called last night, even though she would have to take a cab to do it.

"Thank you for everything," Kaido said, as he waited outside for his mother.

"Hn," Sanada replied. It was his standard answer for anything potentially embarrassing; in this case, it meant "you're welcome", but he couldn't bring himself to actually say that. He could, however, relay a message; that wouldn't be too embarrassing. "My mother says you are welcome back anytime." His mother loved Kaido Kaoru. A little too much, in fact. It was kind of scary seeing her gush over a thirteen-year-old-boy.

"Okay," Kaido said. Sanada wondered if he and Kaido would actually get to become friends; Sanada was sadly lacking in those, since most people couldn't get past his "Don't come near me" aura. Kaido seemed to understand it well, since he had one of his own.

Maybe one day, he'd be able to sleep with his arm around Kaido again. That wouldn't be bad, either.

When Kaido's mother arrived, she insisted on getting out and thanking Sanada, and then both of his parents. The process took a few minutes, which Sanada and Kaido spent silently giving each other helpless looks. Parents.

"I'll see you," Kaido said.

"I'll go with you to visit your brother, if you want." Sanada wanted to slap himself for making that offer; that was one of those potentially embarrassing things. He was rewarded with a tiny smile, though, so maybe it didn't matter so much.

"Thanks," Kaido said. He got into the cab, and Sanada watched it drive away. He had a feeling that he would be seeing Kaido Kaoru again, very soon.

Hazue woke up two weeks later. Sanada was with Kaido when it happened, and he was able to witness a very happy and excited Kaido Kaoru; something that he would not easily forget. He was also rewarded with a crushing hug from Kaido that he would have bruises from -- but the bruises were definitely worth it.

Hazue was just fine, after that -- and so were Sanada and Kaido, who of course lived happily ever after.

They had each other, after all; it didn't matter if their first kiss was awkward or if they had trouble expressing their feelings out loud. They came to know each other very well, and they got along just fine.

And whenever they watched funny movies, they both made sure to laugh.


End file.
